G
Gordon Darling
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/11/aol_axes_nullsoft/
http://www.betanews.com/article/Death_Knell_Sounds_for_Nullsoft_Winamp/1100111204
Death Knell Sounds for Nullsoft, Winamp By Nate Mook, BetaNews November
10, 2004, 1:26 PM
The last members of the original Winamp team have said goodbye to AOL and
the door has all but shut on the Nullsoft era, BetaNews has learned.
Only a few employees remain to prop up the once-ubiquitous digital audio
player with minor updates, but no further improvements to Winamp are
expected.
Winamp's abandonment comes as no surprise to those close to the company
who say the software has been on life support since the resignation of
Nullsoft founder and Winamp creator Justin Frankel last January.
The marriage of Nullsoft and AOL was always one of discontent. After AOL
acquired the small company in 1999 for around $100 million, the young team
of Winamp developers was assimilated into a strict corporate culture that
begged for rebellion. Although Nullsoft was initially given a long leash
by AOL, It wasn't long until the two ideologies collided.
Frankel and his team were accustomed to simply brainstorming ideas over
coffee and bringing them to the masses without approval. So when Frankel
and fellow Nullsoft developer Tom Pepper devised a decentralized
peer-to-peer file sharing system, dubbed Gnutella, parent AOL was left in
the dark.
Gnutella was unveiled in March 2000, much to the chagrin of an unprepared
AOL; executives feared the program would encourage copyright infringement
and damage the company's pending merger with Time Warner. AOL quickly
clamped down on Gnutella, but not before the software's source code
leaked. Gnutella-based alternatives soon followed, igniting a peer-to-peer
land grab that has yet to subside.
But AOL knew it had to protect its investment and turn a profit from the
freely available Winamp. Frankel and crew found themselves in hot water
numerous times, but always escaped with little more than a proverbial slap
on the wrist.
& more ............
Regards
Gordon
http://www.betanews.com/article/Death_Knell_Sounds_for_Nullsoft_Winamp/1100111204
Death Knell Sounds for Nullsoft, Winamp By Nate Mook, BetaNews November
10, 2004, 1:26 PM
The last members of the original Winamp team have said goodbye to AOL and
the door has all but shut on the Nullsoft era, BetaNews has learned.
Only a few employees remain to prop up the once-ubiquitous digital audio
player with minor updates, but no further improvements to Winamp are
expected.
Winamp's abandonment comes as no surprise to those close to the company
who say the software has been on life support since the resignation of
Nullsoft founder and Winamp creator Justin Frankel last January.
The marriage of Nullsoft and AOL was always one of discontent. After AOL
acquired the small company in 1999 for around $100 million, the young team
of Winamp developers was assimilated into a strict corporate culture that
begged for rebellion. Although Nullsoft was initially given a long leash
by AOL, It wasn't long until the two ideologies collided.
Frankel and his team were accustomed to simply brainstorming ideas over
coffee and bringing them to the masses without approval. So when Frankel
and fellow Nullsoft developer Tom Pepper devised a decentralized
peer-to-peer file sharing system, dubbed Gnutella, parent AOL was left in
the dark.
Gnutella was unveiled in March 2000, much to the chagrin of an unprepared
AOL; executives feared the program would encourage copyright infringement
and damage the company's pending merger with Time Warner. AOL quickly
clamped down on Gnutella, but not before the software's source code
leaked. Gnutella-based alternatives soon followed, igniting a peer-to-peer
land grab that has yet to subside.
But AOL knew it had to protect its investment and turn a profit from the
freely available Winamp. Frankel and crew found themselves in hot water
numerous times, but always escaped with little more than a proverbial slap
on the wrist.
& more ............
Regards
Gordon
